August 27, 2020
Breaking: No WNBA games again today, Aug. 27
In roundtable discussion, players explain what they're fighting for
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Members of the WNBPA Executive Committee announced on Thursday that the league would be taking a day of reflection, postponing all games for August 27.
“We are doubling down on our previous calls to action,” Nneka Ogwumike said on ESPN.
The league quickly followed with a statement of its own, saying: “As the WNBA players continue discussions and reflection on recent events, the WNBA announced that the three games scheduled for this evening (Chicago Sky vs. Indiana Fever; Dallas Wings vs. New York Liberty; Las Vegas Aces vs. Seattle Storm) have been postponed.”
During a roundtable discussion, each player weighed in on where they are thinking on this day.
“If you want officials in office who represent your values, you have to go out and vote,” Sue Bird said of the action items the league’s players are supporting. She cited the specific elected officials responsible for decisions like a failure to arrest those who killed Breonna Taylor, tying voting to racial justice in a direct way.
As for the reason this has resonated so fully with the majority Black league, Natalie Achonwa put it bluntly.
“It’s beyond basketball… when I take that jersey off, I’m a Black woman,” Achonwa said.
Even so, Ogwumike reiterated that the players, collectively, want to resume playing. She specifically mentioned that “there are games on the schedule tomorrow.”
“I feel like as a group last night we decided we want to play,” she said.
Even so, the group does not intend to stand down from fighting for racial justice, from social change. It simply will happen in solidarity.
“It’s embedded in us,” Ogwumike said. “…One thing we agreed on is what we do, we do together.”
